DuPont Cuts Forecast as Wet Weather Curbs Agriculture Revenue

DuPont Co., the largest U.S. chemical company by market value, cut its first-half earnings forecast after cool, wet weather in North America and Europe affected revenue and costs at its agriculture and nutrition and health units.

Operating profit per share will drop about 10 percent in the first six months of 2013 from a year earlier, the Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont said in a statement. That compares with an April projection for a decline of 7 percent to 9 percent.

Full-year earnings per share will be at the low end of its previously stated forecast of $3.85 to $4.05. The average of 20 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg is for profit of $3.86 a share excluding one-time items.

“March to May 2013 has been the wettest spring in nearly 120 years across the farm belt states of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana,” Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Fanandakis said in the statement.

DuPont issued the statement before a presentation it’s due to give at a conference in Chicago organized by Deutsche Bank AG. DuPont is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings on July 23.

DuPont Co., the largest U.S. chemical company by market value, cut its first-half earnings forecast after cool, wet weather in North America and Europe affected revenue and costs at its agriculture and nutrition and health units.